1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fish baiting devices and methods, and particularly to fishing rigs and methods for bait casting sandshrimp tails.
2. Background Art
In certain kinds of fishing, such as fishing for steelhead, salmon, trout, etc., the bait of choice is the tail of a sandshrimp. Prior to my invention, a sandshrimp tail was placed directly on a fish hook. But, as sandshrimp tails are quite fragile, this meant that frequent replacement of bait was required. My invention solves this problem by providing a baitcasting rig that includes a buoyant, streamlined, bobber connected by leader to a bait threader, and a method for mounting a sandshrimp tail on the bobber by drawing the tail over the threader and leader and onto the bobber so that the tail substantially surrounds the bobber. Due to the buoyancy of the bobber, my invention also effectively floats the bait off the bottom of the water being fished.
Mannix, U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,699, disclosed an open eye awl, and a method for creating a longitudinal channel through bait through which to draw leader and the shank of a fish hook. Although this method avoided damaging the bait with the barbed point of a hook, it left the bait strung on leader, which provided inadequate support for bait as fragile as a sandshrimp tail; moreover it provided no flotation for the bait.
Schmidt, U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,231, disclosed a skewer having a shank, a handle attached to one end of the shank, and a skewer hook formed at an opposite end of the shank. A bailing sleeve, slidable along the skewer shank, was provided for pushing bait mounted on the skewer along line attached to the skewer hook and onto a hook attached to the line. Hicks, U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,526, disclosed a holder for live shrimp or similar fish bait having a flexible shell defining a cavity sized and shaped to receive the forward end of the shrimp, with the tail of the shrimp exposed and free to make swimming movements. The devices disclosed by Schmidt and by Hicks, however, were both unsatisfactory to preserve the integrity of bait as fragile as a sandshrimp tail.